One down, 22 to go: A man walks past an Olympus Corp. logo outside the company's showroom in Tokyo earlier this month. Scandal-tainted Olympus said Friday it has reached the first in a series of shareholder settlements related to lawsuits filed at home and abroad over its accounting scandal in 2011. | BLOOMBERG

Olympus reaches first shareholder settlement over accounting scandal

Olympus Corp. said Friday that it has reached the first settlement in a series of shareholder lawsuits filed in Japan and abroad over a bubble-era accounting fraud that gutted the company’s value after it came to light.

The camera and precision instruments maker agreed to pay $2.6 million to settle a suit filed by shareholders in the United States.

The suit was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in November 2011, claiming losses from a decline in the value of Olympus’ American depository receipts caused by the accounting scandal and coverup attempt.

The scandal-tainted company has been accused of concealing huge losses on speculative investments made in the 1990s by using funds from corporate acquisitions since 2005.

After the cover-up finally came to light in 2011 because of questions about past acquisitions asked by its first foreign president, Britain Michael C. Woodford, the company’s share price briefly dropped below ¥500 from levels above ¥2,000 while its equity capital ratio, a barometer of financial health, fell sharply. Woodford was sacked shortly after becoming president because he wouldn’t let his suspicions about the acquisitions go.